Just discovered this in my attic. I believe it to have been taken in 1953, but could be out by a year either way. The House Captain is Ian Pitter, which should enable someone to be more precise.
Unfortunately, time has blurred the memory cells, so I will just have a go at the second row from the front, which (left to right) is:
Wells (elder of two); Bamford (?);Purdue: Pitter; Mr TE Archbold (senior Housemaster); Miss Hull (Matron); Mr Barker (junior Housemaster);Miller (William?); Dyball; G-Stevens; Matthews

Last edited by Foureyes on Mon Mar 05, 2007 7:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

You were right about TE Archbold being killed in a ski accident. I was in LamB and he was my Housemaster all my time at Housie from September 1951 until he died in January 1959. At the time I was Senior Grecian and about one week before the end of the Christmas holidays CME Seaman, the then Headmaster, telephoned me at home to say that TEA had had an accident on the ski slopes in Switzerland. He died a few days later after pneumonia had set in. I remember his funeral service in the Chapel.....he was lying in a very garish coffin...very inappropriate for TEA. I remember reading the lesson from Ecclesiasticus Chapter 44....."Let us now praise famous men and our fathers that begat us....."
Tommy Archbold was a devoted Schoolmaster and a keen sportsman...he coached me in the Colts XV in 1954 and 1955 together with Kit Aitken...wooden leg and all!! As a small boy learning rugby in 1951 he taught me the rudiments of the game. In my latter career as a rugby footballer I was always indebted to him and I felt his influence and presence when standing to attention for the National Anthemn prior to playing for Oxford in the 1961 Varsity Match. He was a man that inspired me in my formative years.I owe him a great debt.
Unfortunately my good friend David Taplin, whilst he was in Lamb B with me, did not have the same rapport with TEA and would not share these views. David would claim that it was he that spent hours with me on the Lamb B rugby pitch practising my kicking...and was therefore responsible for any later rugby success that I achieved.

Now you mention it, I believe I remember the coffin -- was it not sort of silver coloured with a rather ornate lid?

Prayers had been said for him during the first few days of term, and then during one 12.15 choir practice, Lamb B choristers were told to go back to the house, where they were told the news, which of course spread to the rest of the school by lunchtime.

Masters rarely died in harness. The only other ones in my time, I think, were DS Roberts, who was already paralysed by a stroke, and JE Bullard, who died quite suddenly. I think Reggie Dean also died in office, but that was after I left.

Masters rarely died in harness. The only other ones in my time, I think, were DS Roberts, who was already paralysed by a stroke, and JE Bullard, who died quite suddenly. I think Reggie Dean also died in office, but that was after I left.

Sadly Clive Kemp died in office over a WE after a massive heart attack. I went with him to the Himalayas some 25 years ago
almost. He was so fit too.

I was in 2's with your sister Jane. I would have recognised you in the photo even if you hadn't named yourself. If you 'search' for Jane on here you will find her mentioned. she is also in a couple of picut#res but for some reason they don't come up.

"If a man speaks, and there isn't a woman to hear him, is he still wrong?"